


Bound in White

by iArgent



Category: Bleach, Naruto
Genre: Aizen - Freeform, Akatsuki Family, Alternate Universe - Afterlife, Basically, Because nobody has any business distorting time or lighting fires with you ocular nerves, Before canon leading into canon, But weakened, Cheeky Sakura, Come talk to me on Tumblr, Craftsmen (and woman) Akatsuki, Dutiful Sasuke, Eventually Sasuke centric, Everybody is here, Everybody is softer with much happier lives, F/M, Gen, Happy Naruto with a happy goddamn life, I'm Bad At Tagging, I'm also a garbage fire, I've forgotten names, Inadvertent hopeless romantic Sasuke, Itachi is accidentally the entire gangs dad when they learn of him, Itachi raising Sakura, Itachi raising Sasuke, Kekkai Genkai is a soul deep thing, M/M, Multi, Non-Romantic Sex, Pairings to be added, Shop Owner Itachi, Siblings Sasuke and Sakura, Softer Itachi, Softer Sasuke, Squad 12, The Naruto cast has passed on, Visored, War, Well - Freeform, and been brought to Soul Society, and family, anime based because the manga are both quite intimidating, bffs with benefits on occassion, but mostly happy, eh, hollows - Freeform, i'll probably add more, pacifist Itachi, please, romantic sex, ryoka, the ones who don't appear to be evil at the core, though I've read a great deal of both, to break that down, up until, you know
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-08
Updated: 2017-05-07
Packaged: 2018-09-22 22:09:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9627536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iArgent/pseuds/iArgent
Summary: Life eventually comes to an end for our heros, and villains, and everyone.Rukongai and Soul Society are places where centuries pass in the blink of an eye. And that's where Itachi and Sasuke reunite once more. The slate wiped clean, and a million other souls to touch. Old friends and new cycle back like they were always meant to be there, and Sasuke and his sister Sakura know that they can be anything if they fight for it. Even Soul Reapers. In fact, that might be best for everyone.





	1. Ends/Beginnings

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, so.....I did a thing. Let me know if you like it or what-have-you.
> 
> Either way, thanks for swinging by! Feel free to check me out (or scream at me about my fics/writing in general) on [Tumblr](http://trashcansurana.tumblr.com/). I love chatting, so come on down. :)

The dust always made everyone cough. And the heat stifled everyone. But the heat was the worst part.

                That’s not to say Itachi had much trouble with heat, on the contrary, he and Sasori did just fine. But Pein, Konan, Kisame and Deidara? They always went under. Itachi personally had far more trouble with the dust, caking on his feet and ripping delicate skin, or tearing up his throat and eyes. Sasori mainly dealt with the gnawing hunger.

                They were young. Not quite new souls, not quite old, with the same quirks many souls with reitsu had. Little personality glitches, little physicality glitches, little snippets of a life long lost.

                But here? This deep in the Rukongai, in a little town with no name, they were family all the same.

                When the heat wasn’t oppressive, which it often was, Deidara was the best thief.  They’d tried, and in a few cases succeeded in getting paid work. But at the very most they were the size of twelve year olds. Fifty years minimum here, but they were so small. Most of the time, Deidara, Itachi, and Sasori would need to swipe some food off a cart.

                Nobody would hire Kisame. Thick, and blue skinned as he was.

No, slight Deidara was the best choice, even if his sunny hair drew the eye.

                Konan wasn’t even allowed to look anymore. It had been made very clear what work she was destined for, even as a girl of six. So she never left Pein’s side.

Itachi wasn’t entirely sure when he’d met them. As far as he was concerned he’d woken up in the broken little hut they shared, and everybody else was there too. But that wasn’t how things worked usually. Odds were he was coming off the tail end of his living memory and fell in with them, waking one day in his full soul form and just…forgot the rest.

                They’d actually moved villages. Not that it mattered, as there were no names this far out. They’d had names though. Except for Pein, who’d offered three, and they’d taken the shortest, storing Nagato and Yahiko somewhere in their memories, and never saying them aloud.

                The next village they’d made it to, children, beaten and battered from souls and the elements alike, was much the same as the first. But the new people didn’t know them, or their tricks, and they ate and drank reasonably well the first few weeks.

                They had started to grow.

It was there that they learned not all souls felt the hunger they did. That it meant the presence of reitsu. But it didn’t matter. Because they all still needed to eat, and no Soul Reaper had ever even been seen in this village. Let alone put out word that they wanted six scrawny brats to fight hollows.

                For that matter, they’d never seen one of those either.

So Sasori would string little creatures together made of wood and broken wire to entertain them, and Deidara would light something on fire, because that’s just what he did. Kisame, Pein, and Konan would leave the villages, look for anything to hunt, sometimes bring back water they could boil.

                Itachi scrawled little patterns in the sand, and helped bandage any injured. He was always a soft touch. They’d taught him to fight, but he’d much rather be pummeled into the sand. Far too gentle, slender fingers doing the finicky small things, like Sasori. Only Sasori held a ruthlessness in him, even as the smallest. His fingers and teeth would dig in and he would _hurt_ whatever grabbed him.

                But the only time Itachi ever threw a punch was to help them. If an angry shopkeeper had Deidara by the hair, he could count on Itachi finishing it fast. If someone had Sasori’s little wrist in a bruising grip, he knew Itachi could break it and get them free.

                They got better at it, in part, because they knew how much he hated it.

Five villages and sixty years later, they were teenagers.

Starving, sore, thirsty teenagers.

And their village still didn’t have a name. They still didn’t have shoes. And the dust in the air still hurt.


	2. Finders Keepers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Itachi finds someone important, Sasori is snowed, Deidara makes a promise.

Crying babies weren’t unusual here. And they didn’t usually cry for long.

But this one had been going for a full day now, and it was tugging at Itachi’s heartstrings. It was achingly familiar.

Deidara had noticed too. And was sitting on the floor, playing an entirely sand drawn game of “Go” with Sasori with a discontented expression that had nothing to do with his impending loss.

Sasori’s eyes kept flickering up and to the door. Mouth set in a line.

They’d never stopped the crying themselves. Had no intention to, but that didn’t mean it hadn’t grated o all of their nerves until they were snapping at each other.

“That’s it.” Itachi mumbled, rolling off the beam he’d been resting on. “I’m going to go get it.”

“Seriously?” Deidara complained “What would you even do with it? We too big for your mother henning?”

Itachi had to give him credit, the idea that he could kill the child never even crossed Deidara’s mind. So he stuck a hand out and ruffled his sunny hair “I love you just the same, don’t be jealous.”

And he slipped out the door to Deidara’s grumblings and Sasori’s soft snickering.

They weren’t staying directly in the village. There was an abandoned shed on the outskirts, and it had been large enough to more or less cram them all in. Kisame was massive, and Pein broad shouldered, but Konan, Itachi, Deidara and Sasori were all lithe, slender and in general, not all that commanding in terms of presence.  As such they were able to all lay on the floor, or in the remaining beams at night with little to no issue.

When it rained though, it got a bit crowded on the one side with a roof. They’d needed to dig a trench and bring in sand walls to keep the water flooding them in their dogpile.

An infant this far out meant it had either been abandoned, or just appeared.

In truth, with the landscape so flat and dry, the crying was coming from much farther off than he’d anticipated. As the others weren’t back yet, he was subsiding off a half cup of rationed water, and an overcooked bamboo shoot from the market, skived from a scrap heap two days ago, and rationed this morning. His stomach was killing him, and his limbs were uncooperative.

But Itachi wasn’t one to give up due to discomfort. Evidenced by his speed now. After years of being beaten he’d simply gotten fast enough to not get caught. So he kept walking until the earsplitting wail was so close he knew he just needed to walk up to it.

A baby. Naturally. He’d expected that.

He hadn’t expected to know this baby on a visceral level. His knees gave out next to it, and a little hand reached out, black, almond eyes reaching out from its suddenly silent body.

“Hi.” He murmured gently, scooping the tiny creature to his chest, eyes burning as if this was the most important moment of his life. “I’ve missed you a lot.” He said, voice choked off, even as he realized the statement was true.

“I think I know you really well.” He continued, eyes releasing water he couldn’t spare.

The infant agreed with his sentiment, apparently. His loud wails now gentle sniffles, and a pudgy hand reaching to his cheek, eyes desperate.

He was so little. Itachi gently pinched the little hand between his thumb and his index and middle fingers, guiding it to his face and pressing down softly.

The baby, overwhelmed, nodded off with his hand still pressed to a damp cheek.

Itachi stood with some difficulty. Unused to holding something this size and shape, his weakened state not conducive to carrying anything. And even if the others brought something back, he knew he’d be splitting it with this one.

He also knew that he’d happily waste away so long as the little one made it.

When he returned, Sasori was outside.

“You brought it back.” It wasn’t even a question, but Sasori stepped closer to peer into Itachi’s arms. “Why?”

Itachi furrowed his brow, thinking on it. “He’s important.”

Sasori looked pained. Despite being the smallest of them, he was the most rational. The most mature. Which led to sermons by a man who looked eleven telling the others off for recklessness. Usually, he didn’t have to have these conversations with Itachi. “They’re all important, Itachi.”

“He’s my little brother.” Itachi murmured. Again, the words sounding so right in his mouth they had to be the truth.

Sasori bit his lower lip, aggravating the chapped nature more. “What’s his name?” He finally said, reluctantly, reaching out a slender hand to poke at a chubby arm.

Itachi tensed, but the baby didn’t move. “His name?”

Sasori looked up unimpressed. “Yeah. His name. I hear kids have them.” He looked down and to the side, swirling a foot in the loose dirt. “Yours is Uchiha, right? Itachi Uchiha. So he has to have one too.”

“I…Hadn’t considered.”

“Well we can’t just call him ‘Baby Uchiha.’ He needs a first one.”

Itachi blinked down at the infant, still sleeping as if his big brother wasn’t so terribly confused. “I wish you were bigger.” He murmured “Then you could tell me if you liked your name, or wanted a new one.”

Sasori looked impatient, never a good sign “Do not keep me in suspense, Uchiha, what’s his name?”

Itachi looked up ‘ _Sorry little one, you get the same one this time around.’_ “It’s Sasuke. Sasuke Uchiha.”

“Ah, isn’t he a bit little for such an impressive name?” Deidara chirped, appearing next to Itachi, causing him to jump a bit, and a startled chirp to leave Sasuke as he woke, followed by angry wailing at the very sight of Deidara.

Itachi instinctively tightened his grip and stepped back, as Deidara staggered back as well “Impressive pipes. Aaaand he hates me!” Deidara cried, still cheerful. “I do love challenges.”

“Sasuke has good taste.” Sasori sniffed, creeping in closer again, oddly entranced by the infant. Liking even that his perfectly shaped eyes were even darker than his brothers. “He’s going to be a heartbreaker.” Sasori nodded teasingly “I can see it now.”

Itachi snorted “He’s going to be picky. Rightfully so. Clearly this child will be the most lovely thing we’ve ever seen.”

Sasori reached out to gently touch Sasuke’s nose, tracing the telltale beginnings of a fine boned face. “He’s definitely related to you.” He muttered “But those eyes…Yeah, you may be right.”

“Wh-what? I was _joking_ Sasori!” Itachi squawked, cheeks lighting up even as his arms trembled.  He was pleased to have validation. Something in him said his little brother was going to be beautiful, the most precious thing in the world. And he wasn’t sure if it was his lost past telling him it was true, or him now.

Either way he agreed.

Sasori moved the fabric they were using as a door today out of the way, and they returned inside. On days like today it was best to leave the heavy door open, and ventilate the room.

Deidara, quick and sneaky, darted around the room snagging scraps of clean-ish fabric to try and make Sasuke a bed while not being seen by the infant.

“Look at you.” Itachi teased “Working so hard for someone who hates you.”

“Shut up, asshole. That child is going to love me. I’m going to be a fantastic uncle.” The sheer stubbornness in his voice had Itachi believing it. Once Sasuke’s little soul gave up its memories, Deidara would definitely be his favorite. Everybody loved Deidara. He was weird, but good weird, and _theirs_ , most importantly.

Itachi sank back, careful not to drag his back on a beam, his shirt was so thin it likely wouldn’t stop splinters. He cradled little Sasuke in his arms and the child just stared back at him, happy as could be to be where he was.

Itachi could feel himself drifting off, his unintended trip draining whatever energy he had, so with the sounds of Deidara’s distracted humming he started nodding off. Sasori slumped next to him a moment later, his small body curled into Itachi as the dark haired man lost his battle with consciousness. One of his arms slipped, but little Sasuke didn’t have time to notice, because Sasori’s small hand replaced Itachi’s arm under his head, cradling his skull carefully. Bringing his knee up to brace his hand, Sasori Akasuna decided he could use a nap too.

And when Deidara finished a little baby nest and looked up to check if it was up to code, because Itachi was clearly going to be insane about all of this, he saw them all slumped together. And it was so cute he didn’t mind being hungry today.


	3. Rain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It takes a big event to make a big decision. Locating a baby qualifies.

The sound of Sasuke squawking, as if offended and surprised at once is what woke Itachi.

“Okay, what the hell?” A low voice grumbled.

“Kisame, what are you…Konan come here.”

Upon opening his eyes Itachi was surprised to see Kisame kneeling quite close to him. His malnourishment had clearly kept him sleeping far longer than he’d intended. The shark skinned man was currently engaged in a staring contest with little Sasuke, who was periodically looking back to his big brother, a wide eyed offended and concerned look plain on his little face.

“That’s Kisame.” He explained, as the baby continued to stare in bewilderment. “He’s sort of like your big brother too.”

“Again, what the hell?” The fish man grumbled, seeming for all the world like somehow this was the absolute last thing he expected.

Konan entered their shed and knelt down next to them, moving at a clip Itachi wasn’t sure he’d ever seen from her. Pein re-entering at a much more sedate pace. His unnatural eyes narrowed in abject confusion as he took a spot by Deidara, who was still studiously keeping out of Sasuke’s sight.

“You don’t like it?” He questioned softly.

The blonde, in turn, levelled the taller man with a fiery glare “That child will fucking love me. Back off.”

Sasori, leaning on Itachi’s shoulder yet, snorted softly. “Deidara loves him. Sasuke has good taste though, so he’s pretty unsure.”

“Can I touch him?” Konan asked breathily, leaning in. “It is a him right? Sasuke is a boys name.”

Itachi smiled softly, bouncing the baby a bit, ignoring Sasuke’s puzzled expression. He wasn’t crying, so he should be good for now. “Yeah. This is my little brother, Sasuke.”

“But can I touch him?” Konan asked again, her voice still high and stringy for her small size snapping a bit on the higher note of her now whining tone. “He looks so cute!”

Reasoning that this was essentially his big sister, and no way would Konan drop him so what could go wrong, Itachi nodded. He shuffled Sasuke a bit, offering him to the older woman.

Konan, looking about thirteen, happily wrapped Sasuke in her arms, pressing him to her chest and pulling her knees up for more support. “He’s so soft.” She murmured awestruck.

“How’re we gonna feed him?” Kisame asked, simply watching everything unfold from his place kneeling by Itachi. “Babies don’t have teeth. Do they?”

Konan looked up a bit startled and gently dipped her finger into the baby’s mouth, prompting him to open and make a weird, upset noise, that only stopped when Konan pulled her hand back. “Well, this one doesn’t.”

“Baby food is mostly mushed food though, right?” Deidara asked, looking between the rest of his family.

“We could crush vegetables. Maybe meat if we try hard enough.” Pein stated, still looking a bit off kilter about this new development. “We need to keep him if he’s Itachi’s little brother. And nowhere around here has a place for children.”

“We can’t stay here.” Sasori said suddenly.

Itachi looked down and quickly snapped his head back to about being struck as Sasori bolted upright.

“Pein’s right. There aren’t any babies around here. We won’t be able to get the right food. We’ve got to go up higher into a named village, maybe farther to keep him alive. Otherwise, how can we feed him? I feel like it’s more complicated than mushed food.”

Itachi frowned “Yeah, I hadn’t thought of that.”

“Don’t named villages want people to have jobs?” Konan asked, toying with the dark wisps of Sasuke’s hair. “Sasori can make puppets. And Itachi can draw. But…What, do we just sell painted puppets? Where do we get material?”

“Who hires puppet-makers?” Kisame followed up.

“But for real, did you guys find any food? We’re dying.” Deidara complained.

“Kisame, could you?”

At Pein’s request Kisame stood to grab the rough baskets outside. “We found a decent amount.” He grumbled good naturedly as he carried them back in. “A few birds, some radishes, found a couple potatoes. A bushel of itadori, as usual.” He left and came back with an old clay pot. “And quite a bit of water. So we can drink up, we brought two back, and I smell rain, so we can catch the rainwater to supplement what we drink.”

“Could we boil it into soup? The broth may be good for Sasuke.” Pein suggested. “And if we need to move for more, soup would be easier to carry.”

“Now? We just got back!” Kisame complained.

“A few days.” Konan stated imperiously. “So Dei, Sasori and Itachi can eat, and we can rest. Then we need to go. If someone goes with me, I can look for women with babies in the next village, and we can see if we can get tips.”

Konan may have been the only female in the group, but she had every one of them wrapped tightly around her fingers. Deidara had been known to pinch nice soaps for her where they could be found, she always was defaulted the better food. In general, what Konan said, went. Mostly because Pein more or less led the group if a tie needed breaking, and he was utterly devoted to the little blue haired girl.

As such, nobody complained at all about her statement.

Itachi and Sasori carefully cut the vegetation with sharpened stones, having a knife this far out got you killed if you were caught, not just beaten. Nobody was quite confident enough in using a knife anyway, so they didn’t have one, even if it made meal prep hard.

Kisame and Pein skinned and deboned the birds, while Konan crooned at Sasuke, who now seemed completely taken with this new person, giggling and kicking chubby little legs as she tickled his middle.

Deidara kindled their cooking fire. He’d always been unnaturally good at it. Striking their little lump of flint against a rusty nail usually took a few tries. However, as Deidara could get it in one try, and Itachi in two, Deidara got to hold onto it. If he needed to go out, it fell to Itachi. No use wasting it on the others who wasted strikes and wore the flint down.

It still took about an hour for the fire to be primed, even Deidara couldn’t make that go faster. In the meantime Kisame had hauled out an ancient kettle and poured some of their newly gained water inside to boil while the others scraped the meat and plants in, and put a lid on it. It probably wasn’t at all how soup was made, but it cooked the food and that’s all they wanted.

After, Pein and Itachi passed out chipped glass bowls that everybody filled with water to drink, now that their duties were done.

A few hours later, still tearing into their version of soup, Deidara looked up “So we’re really doing this then? Moving higher up?”

Itachi nodded absently, popping a chunk of meat into his mouth as Konan intoned a garbled “Mmmhmmm” through her broth.

Sasuke, cradled in Pein’s lab was being very carefully fed broth, Pein looking very much out of his element. Kisame monitoring the process intently. Sasori monitoring Kisame monitoring Pein from next to Itachi. Itachi who knew very well that his protective instincts could be trusted to Sasori for an hour.

“So within the week then? So we have this for a few days before it goes bad?”

General agreement came from around the shed, until a clap of thunder broke the atmosphere.

Deidara snuffed out the fire to prevent them getting smoked out and used some cloth around his hands to shuffle the pot into a dirt trench in the corner so he wouldn’t burn the old wood wall, as everybody else rocketed to their feet. Sasuke let out a wail of surprise as he found himself several feet higher than he had been before. The empty bowls were placed outside for the rain to wash, one of the clay jugs opened for water, and all blankets ferried to the roofed side as Kisame wrenched the heavy door shut, and Sasori emptied bags of dirt across the floor to keep them dry.

Still, even then flecks of rain hit them, and the wind threw everything around. Finally managing to arrange themselves close enough to cover their bodies with all the blankets and huddling close for warmth they decided it was time for rest.

Sasuke ended up pressed between Itachi and Konan, who decided to try and sleep in shifts to make sure nobody squished him.

And they fell asleep to dreams of thicker blankets, and a home with a roof.


	4. Hanging Dog

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In their journey through South Rukongai, our ragtag band of misfits stops in Hanging Dog, their first named village. They don't stick around. But they do meet Hisana and Rukia.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry this took forever! I'm having a rough time irl. But thank you so much for sticking around!

 

Sasuke grew faster than they did.

 

Probably due to the better access to food.

 

They were all catching up to each other, and looked uniformly sixteen. Sasuke was a skinny toddler.

 

This town had a name. But it wasn’t particularly good. And Konan had taken one look at the sign and said “We aren’t staying anywhere called Hanging Dog.”

 

Kisame looked around to the dusty roads and the sharp eyed people. “’s fine. They haven’t even met us and they don’t want us here.”

 

Pein tilted his head down to hide his eyes. “Deidara, Itachi.” He fished a small coin purse from his bag. “Restock cheap food and see if there’s water nearby we can boil. We head out in the morning.”

 

Itachi handed over a dozing toddler to Konan who swept the child into her arms and stepped back with Kisame, and Sasori, making for an open area away from the houses and other structures. After a moments hesitation, Pein nodded to the other three, and set off after them.

 

“Maa, this place is depressing.” Deidara commented the moment they were out of earshot of their companions. “Thought things got better the higher up we got.”

 

Itachi shrugged “There’s more food.”

 

“And people look meaner for no damn reason.” Deidara retorted.

 

Itachi bit his lip and looked around. He was still a bit smaller than Deidara, a few inches shorter, less broad in the shoulders, but at least nobody ever thought he was looking at them funny.

 

“Looks like the butcher is over there, un. If we get older meat I can dry it myself, save some money.”

 

Itachi merely nodded quietly and followed his friend to haggle over some cheap pork. While in the queue for their purchase Itachi caught sight of a weary young woman with a wrapped bundle in her arms. He tapped Deidara twice on the arm to let him know, silently, that he saw something and was headed off.

 

The woman looked up at his approach, at first startled and wary, then upon taking in Itachi’s frail image she visibly calmed. It was wrong, Itachi hated fighting but he was a terror if he put his mind to it, but he’d take what he could get.

 

“Your baby?”

He led with awkwardly.

 

The woman flushed and looked down “My little sister. Rukia.”

 

“Ah.” Itachi was silent for a moment “I’m caring for my little brother, Sasuke. He’s a toddler now.”

 

The woman looked hopeful for a moment “Have you found ways to care for him?”

 

Itachi frowned “My brothers and sister look out for him. We’ve been traveling village to village to find work and food. It’s hard, but can be done.”

 

“Oh.”

 

“What is your name?” He questioned in the long silence “And how have you been caring for Rukia? We’re all inexperienced, help goes a long way.” his stomach clenched at the admission. But he’d only approached the woman because she was holding a living infant. With luch he’d hoped it was hers and she’d had advice. But he’d take what he could get.

 

“Hisana.” She muttered “I’m…Having a harder time than you. I scavenge what I can and we split it.”

 

Itachi blinked silently “We don’t have much. Or I’d offer to help.”

 

“No no. It’s fine. I’ll find a way.”

 

Itachi bid her goodbye and made it back to Deidara in time to have several packages of meat shoved into his hands.

 

“Meet someone?”

 

Itachi frowned “I saw a woman with a baby” he said “But she was having trouble too. I’d hoped…”

 

He felt a hand on his head ruffling his sleek hair and grimaced.

 

“I know, ‘Tachi, we all want someone to have intel. Shame she didn’t.”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“But we need to get information about water, and some vegetables. Then we can worry.”

 

“You’re right.”

 

It didn’t take them much longer. Water was scarce, but there was a pond a few miles off. They’d need to stay a bit longer but Deidara could boil it clean and they could take off. A few wilted vegetables were all they were willing to haggle for before headed back. Coin virtually gone, and little to show for it. But they were used to being hungry.

 

“What’d you get!” Konan asked excitedly as they approached where she’d started camp. They were up a few tents and some decent crockery, and a rickety cart Sasori had managed to build and keep up. So they were far better off then when they left the shed, but it was still hard.

 

“Some pork for drying, and some vegetables. Waters that-a-way.” Deidara chimed in, gesturing in one direction with his whole hand.

 

Sasuke gurgled and Itachi picked him up from his little material bundle that functioned as a bed, after he handed off the pork. “Hi little brother.” He murmured soothingly, kissing the top of his head. “Did you have a good day?”

 

Sasuke, incapable of speech quite yet, gurgled slightly happier and flailed his little arms. Before brightening and reaching for something.

 

The toddler was snatched by Deidara with a wide grin as the toddler jabbered happily. Deidara held him to his chest, gesturing with a free hand and mouthing ‘I told you he’d love me!’ at Itachi over the toddlers shoulder.

 

Itachi rolled his eyes and strode off to help get supper ready, using a mostly dull cooking knife to chop some wilted carrots lengthwise, then cubing to act like there was more, as Konan did the same to the meat, most piled off for Sasori to put in salt.

 

Itachi noticed the fire was already going, so it looked like Deidara had run though his chores to steal Sasuke. Kisame was moving delicately for such a big guy, and setting out the dishes they’d use in a neat stack by the tents to prevent them from diging later.

 

Pein was carefully stitching up one of the older tents that had ripped. With his eyes and Kisame’s skin, Konan had taken to making them useful around camp. Pein, at this point, was every bit as good at stitching as the one woman in the group. Which came in handy when things happened. Like one of the three tents ripping.

 

“Did anything happen today?” Pein asked softly, stabbing a needle through the canvas of the tent as Itachi chopped the last carrot they’d use tonight. “You’ve been quieter than usual.”

 

Itachi scraped the carrot onto the platter Konan had set out for him before answering. “I met a woman with a baby.”

 

“Did she have any tips on child rearing?”

Itachi shook his head as Sasori came over to carry off a portion of veggies to smush for Sasuke. He had some teeth but semi-solid was all the risk they were taking. “No. It was her little sister. And she said they were having trouble too.”

 

“Shame we have nothing to give them.”

 

“Yeah.”

 

Two days later they’d restocked on water, the meat that wasn’t yet salted was well on it’s way, and the group was pleased to see the back of Hanging Dog.


End file.
